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5 Cheapest Neighborhoods for MLB Fans to Buy In

Written by: Jerry Kronenberg07/03/13 - 8:00 AM EDT

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BOSTON (TheStreet) -- If Take Me Out to the Ball Game basically sums up your philosophy of life, here's a look at five U.S. cities where you can buy a home near a Major League Baseball park for a minor-league price.

"It's easier to get to the game if you live in one of these neighborhoods, and you might even be able to hear the roar of the crowd from your deck," says economist Jed Kolko of Trulia.com, which analyzed home prices near MLB ballparks recently. "And even if you never go to a game, baseball fans like to go to restaurants and bars -- so there's usually lots of excitement in the neighborhood."

Trulia found that properties near Big League parks list for 45.6% more per square foot on average than homes do overall in each metro area studied.

But the site also discovered that home values near ballparks vary widely from city to city, with asking prices ranging from $28 per square foot in the cheapest locale to $653 a square foot in the costliest one.

"The differences reflect how huge the gaps in affordability are from market to market in the United States," Kolko says. "All five of the lowest-cost neighborhoods are in cities away from the coasts, where property tends to be less expensive. And stadiums in four of the five low-cost cities are located in less-expensive parts of their individual towns."

Click below to check out the U.S. metro areas that Trulia found offer the lowest-priced housing near their respective ballparks. (The study omitted Toronto, home of the Canada's Blue Jays.)

Trulia looked at all residences listed for sale on its site during the 12 months ended Feb. 28 and within roughly two miles of a Big League ballpark. Prices per square foot refer to median asking prices for all houses, condos and townhouses other than foreclosures.